Door suspension and actuating means



'Jan. 12, 1943.

E. H. PIRON DOOR SUSPENSION AND ACTUATING MEANS' FiledDec; 10, 1938 ATTORNEY v Patented Jan. 12, 1943 mast BGGR SUSPENSION AND ACTUA'EXNG MEANS Emil H. Piron, New York, N. Y., assignor to Transit Research Corporation, a corporation of New York Application December 10, 1938, serial No. 244,936

6 Claims.

This invention relates to folding doors for public vehicles such as street railway cars and has for its object to provide a set of door leaves and an improved door operating mechanism therefor which will open the leaves in such manner as to make available a passageway of maximum width which will not require the cutting away of a door step to form door wells.

Another object of this invention is to provide folding door pivotally mounted top and bottom for translation and rotation, in combination with means remote therefrom for causing such translation and rotation.

Doors of the type herein contemplated are ordinarily supported top and bottom on levers upon the ends of which each door leaf is pivotally mounted, the two leversof each leaf being rigidly connected to a vertical shaft located adjacent one edge of the leaf and rotatable therewith to move the door to open and closed positions. An

object of this invention is to remove the vertical or actuating shaft entirely out of the passageway and to locate it, preferably, in an inconspicuous place, as for instance, interiorly of an existing stanchion.

Another object is to provide a door leaf guide comprising upper bearing and supporting means together with a lower hearing which acts only as a guide, the lower bearing being made of self- Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 with all parts in door opening position,

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the doors in closed position with the bearings and other parts of the actuating mechanism in section, and

Fig. 4 is a detail section of the main operating shaft and its housing.

More particularly I and 2 indicate the left and right door leaves, respectively, of the type commonly used on street cars, buses and the like.

The leaf l is supported by a shaft 3 mounted for rotation in and support by a lever arm i, and v the leaf 2 is supported by a shaft 5 mounted for rotation in and support by a lever arm 6. The arm 6 is fixedly mounted on the shaft ill as are, also, the arms I and 8 and the arm 6 is fixedly mounted on the shaft ll along with the arm 9, the arms l, l and 8 being rotatable with the shaft it which is supported at its upper end by a thrust bearing Ida, and the arms 6 and 9 are rotatable with their shaft H which is supported by a thrust bearing Ma. The outer ends of the arms 8 and 9 are pivotally connected to links 12 and it which are, in turn, pivotally connected to a common arm M on diametrically opposite sides of its pivotal support 5. The arm 8 is pivotally connected to an actuating link 15 which link is pivotally connected also to an arm I! fixedly mounted for rotation with a vertical shaft 58. The shaft 58 is remote from the door leaves i and 2 and is housed, preferably, by a stanchion 59.

The lower part of each door leaf has a pin 2% aligned, respectively, with the pins 3 and 5, on

which the leaves can rotate. Each pin 26 is fixedly mounted in an arm 2! fixedly mounted on a vertical shaft 22 for rotation therewith in a self-lubricating bearing 23, usually made of rubher impregnated with graphite, paraffin, castor oil or the like. One of the shafts 22 is connected to a lever arm 2 and the other of which is fixedly connected to a similar lever arm 25. The levers i l and 25 are pivotally connected to links 26 and 2?, respectively, which links are pivotally connected to the ends of an arm 28 on diametrically opposite sides of a journal shaft 29. The shaft is is in axial alignment with the shaft [5. The shaft 22 below the leaf I, is fixedly secured also to an arm 39 which is pivotally connected to one end of a link 3!, the other end of which is pivotally attached to an arm 32 fixedly secured to the shaft E8.

The shaft is is in axial alignment with one pin 22 and the other shaft H is in axial alignment with the other pin 22.

The operation is as follows: The shaft l8, which is out of the range of swinging of the door leaves, may be rotated manually or from a power means applied against the arm 33 thus rotating the outer end of the arm H through an arc toward and away from the shaft ID. The link It actuated by the arm ll rotates the arm I which rigidly connected with the shaft l0 and hence rotates the arms 8 and 4. Rotation of the arm 8 also actuates the linkage I2, l4, l3, 9 and 6 and hence causes movement of both door shafts and 5 through an are having a radius equal to the length of the arms 4 and 6. In order to guide the leaves twopins 34 and 35 are carried by the leaves I and 2 respectively for guiding movement in the slots 36 and 31, respectively, in

the top door sill 38. As the pivots 3 and 5 rotate about the shafts l0 and H the pins 34 and 35 cause that part of each leaf immediately below them to follow the slots 32 and 33, while the other edge 39 of each leaf moves in a line parallel with the door opening side wall indicated by the dotted lines 40. In view of the fact that the space between the upper and lower leaf supports is entirely unobstructed the leaves or any part thereof can move transversely across the axes of these supports. The final position of the leaves, therefore, can be normal to the original position thus opening the doorway to a maximum, and the outwardly exposed edges of the leaves can extend outwardly of their original position,that is outwardly of the sidewalls of the vehicle body, so that the inner edges 39 will come to rest immediately in front of the first step leading upwardly from the doorway without requiring that the ends of this first step be cut away.

What I claim is:

l. The combination of a door leaf adapted to close an opening, said leaf being mounted for rotation about an axis, means for translating said axis through an are described about a second axis located inwardly from both the side of the opening and the closed plane of the door, and means for rotating and translating said leaf, said two axes being so disposed relative to one another that the leaf moves across said second axis during translation of the first axis and into a plane parallel with and in close proximity to the side of the opening. 7

2. The combination of a door leaf adapted to close an opening, said leaf being mounted for rotation about an axis closely adjacent the vertical mid section thereof, means for translating said axis through an arc described about a second axis located inwardly from both the side of the opening and the closed plane of the door, and means for rotating and translating said leaf, said two axes being so disposed relative to one another that the leaf moves across said second axis during translation of the first axis and into a plane parallel with and in close proximity to the side of the opening.

3. The combination of a door leaf adapted to close an opening, supporting pins having a common axis about which said leaf rotates, arms on one end of each of which one of said pins is mounted, aligned bearings supporting the other ends of said arms and having a second common axis about which said arms rotate located inwardly from both the side of the opening and the closed plane of the door, and means rotating said arms about said second axis, said arms being so disposed that upon rotating and translating said leaf a portion of said leaf moves across said second axis and into a plane parallel with and in close proximity to the side of the opening.

4. The combination of a door leaf adapted to close an opening, said leaf being mounted for rotation about an axis, means for translating said axis through an are described about a second axis located inwardly from both the side of the opening and the closed plane of the door, and means for rotating and translating said leaf, said two axes being so disposed relative to one another that the leaf moves across said second axis during translation of the first axis and into a plane parallel with and in close proximity to the side of the opening, said last named means comprising a shaft parallel to said first and second axes and located at a distance from said leaf in any of its positions.

5. The combination of a door leaf mounted for rotation about an axis paralleling its length, aligned bearings arranged one above and one below said leaf, said bearings being spaced laterally from the normal plane of the leaf in its closed position, arms supporting said leaf and journalled in said bearings for translating said axis during rotation of said leaf, said arms being of a length such that translation of the leaf causes movement thereof between the bearings, and a shaft remote from said leaf rotatable about its own axis and having means connected to each of said arms for simultaneous rotation thereof.

6. The combination of a door leaf for closing an opening, said leaf being supported for rotation about a vertical axis closely adjacent its mid section, arms supporting said door, one at the top and the other at the bottom of said leaf, said arms each being of a length substantially less than half the width of the door and being fixedly securedto aligned, rotatably mounted shafts so disposed that axis of the shafts is spaced inwardly from the side of the opening and spaced from the normal plane of the leaf and traversed by a, portion of said leaf during leaf opening and closing movements, actuating arms connected to each of the first named arms for rotation thereof, and an elongated shaft fixedly secured to both of said actuating arms, said elongated shaft being mounted for rotation about its own axis.

EMIL H. PIRON. 

